CHANGED INTO THE IMAGE OF CHRIST

II Cor. 3:18 ... "We all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit."

      When God created the universe, He made man the crown of His handiwork by endowing him with a character unique among all creatures. We are told in Gen. 1:27 that "God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him." God is a Spirit (Jno. 4:24), so when He created man "in His own image," He enshrined in man's physical body a similar spirit (or soul)." No other living creature was thus honored.  All of them received nothing more than the gift of biological life. Because every human being has within him an image of God, each person owes respect to every other person. Thus, James (3:9) argues that no one should curse another since he is "made in the likeness of God." To abuse or exploit another human is, in a significant sense, to render such ill treatment to God. Although people nevertheless offend others, none of us violates anyone more than he violates his own character. This is the point made in Rom. 3:23 when it declares that "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." God's glory is planted in each of us in the soul made in His own image. When we abuse our soul with sin, we violate that indwelling glory. Sin contaminates the soul with moral filth and deforms it to the place where it loses its original resemblance to God. Then we must cry out so pitifully with Isaiah of old, "Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips," (Isa. 6:5).

      How fortunate we are that God does not abandon us as we continue daily the destruction of our souls with sin. The psalmist proclaims that God "redeems your life from the pit" by "pardoning all your iniquities," (Psa. 103:3-4). The way by which He renews and recreates our souls is by the work of Christ, revealed and administered to us through the New Testament, (see II Cor. 3:6). This remarkable Book is like a perfectly clear mirror that portrays the living image of God's Holy Son.  With this capacity as a mirror, it contains a power like no other book ever written. The word in the lead text above that is translated "beholding" conveys both the idea of seeing a separate object and seeing the reflection of one's own image. Any ordinary mirror will reflect one's own image, but this unique mirror also projects the perfect image of Christ's nature. Not only that, but it also has a transforming power that operates upon those who will dare let it. When anyone looks into this mirror, he sees a hideous image of a life deformed, wasted and fouled by sin. But our text declares that by "beholding ... the glory of the Lord" contained therein, he is "transformed into the same image from glory to glory."

      At first, one sees a double image, the beautiful and perfect image of Christ and the sin-warped  image of himself. But as he continues to behold (the sense of the Greek present tense) his own image, it is "changed" gradually into the glorious image of Christ.  As the power of the gospel in the New Testament works its wonderful improvements in the life of the individual, the difference between the two images is decreased.  The word translated "transformed" is one that denotes a fundamental change in one's very nature rather than a mere superficial change. In other words, the "house" of one's character is not just remodeled, it is taken apart and built anew after the blueprint of Christ's. That this is not accomplished in a day is made clear by the phrase "from glory to glory." This means  from one stage of development to another as one progresses toward the fullness of the glory of Christ. Such perfection, in fact, is never accomplished in this life.  When Christ returns, however, it will be accomplished, for we are told in I Jno. 3:2-3 that "when He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him just as He is. And every one who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure."

THAT SATAN TAKE NO ADVANTAGE

 II Cor. 2:11 ... "That no advantage be taken of us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes."

      In his first extant letter to the Corinthians Paul rebuked them for proudly continuing to fellowship a man who was cohabiting with his step-mother. He ordered them to "deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus," (I Cor. 5:5). In other words, in a solemn convocation in the name of Christ they were to withdraw fellowship from this brother in the hope that it might induce him to repent and return to a life of Christian purity, (I Cor. 5:4). We learn here in this Second Epistle that, upon reading these instructions from the apostle, the Corinthians were overcome with shame and took the prescribed action against the wayward brother. The outcome was as hoped. The man repented and appealed to the church to be forgiven and then  reinstated in its fellowship.  Strangely, however, the people who had formerly protected the man in his sin were very reluctant to forgive him in his penitence. In the first ten verses of II Corinthians 2, Paul strongly urges the church to forgive the man and accept him with the fullness of Christian love. He then warns them, "That no advantage be taken of us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes."

      We must never forget that Satan lives in our midst here in this world and that he has a plan to turn every one of us away from God. How poignant is the warning in I Pet. 5:8, "Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour." We should never take lightly the reality of Satan or the influence he exerts in our environment. The native Masai who roams freely and carelessly in the savannah in lion country may never return, but instead end up in the stomach of the king of the beasts. Vigilance and superior weapons are required daily to survive, for human strength is no match for that of the lion. Peter compares Satan to a hungry lion who constantly stalks humans as his prey. Martin Luther well expressed this reality in his hymn, Ein Feste Burg:  "For still our ancient foe / doth seek to work us woe. / His craft and power are great, / and armed with cruel hate, / on earth is not his equal. / Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing, / were not the right man on our side, / the Man of God's own choosing." Our defense against Satan is also vigilance and superior weapons, not those of our own design, but those supplied to us by our Lord Jesus, (Eph. 6:10-18). The one who ignores these and ventures out into life on his own will sooner or later be "devoured" by Satan.

      Paul says that we not be "ignorant of his schemes." The Scriptures warn us that Satan has developed extremely effective "schemes" (strategies) by which he can overthrow the faith and righteousness of the unwary Christian. The word translated "advantage be taken" conveys the idea of deception, which is doubtless Satan's most successful "scheme." Later in this epistle, (11:14-15), Paul declares that "Satan disguises himself as an angel of light" and that "his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness." Through his agents, people who have submitted to him and are serving him, Satan tries to persuade us to call evil good and good evil, and to put light for darkness and darkness for light, sweet for bitter and bitter for sweet, (Isa. 5:20).  At first, he induced the Corinthians to protect a man in the open commission of fornication; then Satan induced them not to forgive him when he repented. Satan always tries to lead us to do the opposite of that which God wills. We must study his "schemes" and learn to spot them clearly when they are applied. Then we must take care not to give him "advantage of us" by ignoring him, trying to beat him at his own game, or foolishly facing him without the presence of our Lord Jesus, against whom Satan cannot stand, (Mat. 4:1-11).